A new bipartisan nonprofit, RAISE US, has launched with over $500 million, bypassing federal government channels to unilaterally reshape the American workforce amid warnings that artificial intelligence could eliminate 25 million U.S. jobs within the next five years.
Elite Capture of National Policy
Founded by former Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo, a Democrat, and former Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb, a Republican, the group aims to pilot programs and incentives. These initiatives are designed to help American workers “pivot” to new careers in an economy increasingly automated by artificial intelligence.
RAISE US is focusing on partnering with states and major employers, explicitly avoiding the federal government in its initial phase. The nonprofit is initially collaborating with officials in Arkansas, Connecticut, Maryland, and Utah. It is also partnering with several of America’s largest companies and charitable organizations.
The group intends to develop policies that connect schools more closely to employers, with the stated goal that layoffs can be replaced by the potential for new jobs with higher incomes. It is also exploring changes to corporate taxes and other incentives, aiming to keep people working.
Raimondo, who played a formative role in setting AI policy as the Biden administration’s commerce secretary, will serve as the nonprofit’s CEO. The advisory board includes former Republican House Speaker Paul Ryan, billionaire investment manager Stephen Schwarzman, AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler, and economists David Autor, Erik Brynjolfsson, and Raj Chetty.
Among the companies serving as anchor partners with RAISE US are Amazon, Microsoft, Anthropic, the OpenAI Foundation, and Bank of America. Other employers involved in the project include UPS, General Motors, Eli Lilly, Mastercard, chipmaker AMD, Cisco, and IBM.
The Economic Displacement of Native Workers
An April analysis by the Boston Consulting Group estimated that roughly half of U.S. jobs will be reshaped by AI over the next few years. The analysis projected that as many as 25 million jobs could be eliminated in the U.S. over the next five years.
Goldman Sachs, in March, separately released an estimate that a quarter of U.S. work hours could be automated by AI. The article stated that AI could fill roads with driverless trucks, create factories staffed by robots, and supplant office workers, lawyers, and doctors.
Bureau of Labor Statistics data indicates that manufacturing has shed 68,000 jobs since the start of Trump’s second term. The trucking transportation sector has cut 28,300 jobs during the same period.
Justifying the Post-National Transformation
Raimondo stated in an interview, “We’re talking about a certain level of unemployment that could destabilize our country and our democracy.” She added, “If you want to lead the world in AI, you have to take action to make sure our democracy doesn’t crumble.” Holcomb commented, “Good things tend to happen when you convert have-nots into haves.”
Raimondo indicated that the new nonprofit wants to use states as a “vehicle” for testing ideas that Congress can later embrace as policies. She suggested this would pave the way for the possibility of “more profound changes” to both the tax code and the educational system.
She expressed little hope for “bold action by Congress” in the next few years on this issue, stating, “I don’t think we can wait a few years.” Raimondo also said, “I feel pretty confident that they will look at the work that we’ve done” when the federal government eventually takes action.
Vivienne Ming, a neuroscientist, warned that “AI is now disrupting multiple sectors simultaneously, faster than any institution can respond.” Ming agreed with an argument by economists that the wealth generated by AI could create demand for more workers, potentially offsetting job losses.
However, Ming also stated that the skills that matter in an AI economy, such as curiosity and intellectual flexibility, are not being built. She concluded, “Neither our education system nor our labor policies are building the foundational human capital that AI-era work actually requires.”
President Donald Trump has expressed little anxiety about the possibility of AI displacing human workers. Asked on Tuesday, ahead of touring a Mack Trucks factory in Pennsylvania, if AI could cause truckers to lose their jobs, Trump told a reporter, “Right now, they’re not.” Trump asserted, “We have, right now, so many jobs that are going to be available and the biggest problem we have is getting the people. So we’re really doing spectacular.”